Expect personnel changes to keep coming for Eagles

Eagles defensive end Jason Babin has seen his playing time decrease. (MICHAEL KUBEL, MORNING…)

November 05, 2012|By Nick Fierro, Of The Morning Call

NEW ORLEANS — — As this football season progresses deeper into November and December, it's becoming increasingly apparent due to injury and performance issues that the Philadelphia Eagles team we'll see at the end of this season will not have much of a resemblance to the one we saw at the beginning.

Most of the personnel changes, some of them subtle, have already begun, and that doesn't even include the firing of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo on Oct. 16.

For instance, third-year defensive end Brandon Graham is playing more in the rotation and Jason Babin is playing less. Last week, in a 30-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, their snaps were almost even, with Babin on the field for 33 plays and Graham playing 31 snaps.

Phillip Hunt, in the meantime, didn't get in on any defensive plays.

Rookie defensive Fletcher Cox also has supplanted Derek Landri as a starter and last week was in on 59 percent of the defensive plays to Landri's 43 percent.

Along the offensive line, center Jason Kelce's season-ending knee injury has Dallas Reynolds playing in his place, and Danny Watkins' chronic ankle condition, revealed by the team for the first time just before the Eagles played the Falcons, means rookie Dennis Kelly will keep getting experience.

Whether Watkins is really injured has become a valid question in the wake of how poorly he played in his last game (against Detroit on Oct. 14). This mysterious ankle condition — Watkins walked with no limp whatsoever on Thursday and Friday — could simply be a face-saving move by the Eagles, who selected him with the 23rd overall pick of last year's NFL Draft.

Kelly, in the meantime, played better inside than he did on the outside, which is where he had spent his entire time with this team, struggling with speed rushers around the edge throughout training camp and the preseason.

Playing guard, he doesn't have to deal with that as much.

"After the first play or so, it kind of slowed down, started to be the game that we practiced [for]," Kelly said. "It's a faster tempo and everything, but the speed wasn't overbearing after the first couple of plays.

"I thought I was very aggressive. I took the techniques that [offensive line coach] Howard [Mudd] has been preaching and really, I think, executed them pretty well. Then I was a little unhappy with how I did on blocks out in the second level, kind of dealing with linebackers. I know one play in particular, I opened up too much and crossed my feet and the backer went right under me. So I just have to work on being disciplined with going over an open space."

Even if Watkins' injury is legitimate, he may have trouble getting his job back.

Coach Andy Reid hinted as much with a cryptic response to a question about whether the job will definitely still be there for Watkins when he's healthy.

"We'll see how he feels once he gets in there and take it from there," Reid said. "We'll see how he does."

Graham, their first-round pick in 2010, has regained the explosion that was missing last season, when he was never quite right after knee microfracture surgery. But even with that, there was only so much they could use him, given the seasons starters Babin and Trent Cole had a season ago.

But their dwindling productivity has put Graham back into the picture. He might even become a starter by season's end.

"Just my attitude every day, I mean, it's still the same," Graham said. "It's just consistent and [I] just keep going and be a leader out there. I think I'm more vocal now than anything. I'm not afraid to be that guy that can talk and echo stuff. I used to still feel like I was a rookie, because it's hard to transition sometimes. Now I don't [act] as a rookie anymore. I feel like I've got to step up and do what I've got to do."

To complete his comeback, Graham knows what he must do.

"Run to the ball a little more, a little harder," he said. "Just seeing [DT] Cedric Thornton out there last week, whew, he motivated me a little more. I'm like, shoot, I thought I was running, but that boy was getting after it. I feel like [I] just [need to] get to the ball and make more plays, get some sacks."

But the biggest change of all, of course, could some at the quarterback position, where rookie Nick Foles is being groomed as the future centerpiece of this offense.

This, despite Reid assuring the doubting public on Thursday that Vick "is the quarterback and will continue to be the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. I can't make it any more clear than that."

But in the wackiest season since Terrell Owens turned bad in 2005, all bets are off, and nothing is off limits.